Jeff Stephens runs Godffery's Garage out of Burlington Wisconsin and has been riding & wrenching bikes since he was around 12 years old. Jeff tried a whole host of professions before heading to a school for Industrial Design. He worked with a company supplying race components for a while, then at Buell, ending up as an over-stressed, under-rewarded Design Engineer. It was time to change direction again, so he started to pickup vintage bikes to rebuild and sell. It wasn't long before he was taking in customer work, especially after people discovered his A.D.D. - his extreme attention to detail and design - and that's when things really started getting interesting. This bike, "Cafe Overkill", had been commissioned in 2008 by a customer that gave Jeff full creative license with a decent budget that would allow him to put together a bike that would not only look good but would perform as a True Cafe Racer is meant to. The bike started out as a well-used 1978 CB550K which made the perfect donor, as Jeff doesn't much like chopping up vintage bikes that are in near perfect condition. The motor was completely rebuilt from the cases up, with a ported head and intake. He added a mild street cam, 1/4 turn throttle, Keihin CR26 smooth-bore carbs (which required some reverse engineering to fit properly in the frame with the K&N Pod filters), then modified the clutch cover to accept a hydraulic slave cylinder and radial masters for both the clutch & brake (which share a neatly tucked away reservoir). The clutch cover also gained an oil sight glass & temp gauge. On the other side of the motor Jeff added an oil pressure gauge and did a little creative cutting to reveal the front drive sprocket. The oil system was fitted with a large capacity modern spin-on type filter to increase volume and for ease of maintenance. For the instruments Jeff decided a speedo was less important than a Tach, and to fit that he grafted the gauge housing into a Ducati headlight bucket and installed L.E.D. idiot lights inside the gauge. The clip-ons had to be high quality Telefix, as Jeff pointed out; that is one component that you don't want to fail on you. The forks are 50.4mm longer items from Forking by Frank’s, allowing for easy preload fine-tuning. All the front brake components have been up-dated with lighter drilled and shaved rotors and phenolic caliper pistons. He modified a Tarozzi fork brace so it would double as the mount for a Ducati fender. Rims front & rear are 18" aluminum shouldered, laced with heavy gauge stainless steel spokes and shod with Dunlop K81 tyres. The rear hub and brake are aggressively vented for cooling and to trim as much un-sprung weight as possible. Jeff designed the rear suspension similar to some mono shock conversions he had done in the past but wanted to throw in a nod to the late great Vincent and went with twin inboard shocks, which complemented the Manx style seat. The tail light is from a mid 60's Austin Healey modified to fit the tight radius of the seat bump. The alloy tank and seat, as well as the stainless exhaust were specially ordered to Jeff's dimensions and shaped to achieve a classic look. Since the bike was completed in 2010 it's been on the Dyno for fine tuning, then the Race track and of course it's been the open road as an every day rider. Jeff wanted us to add a few well deserved credits, including frame modifications by Randy. The tank, seat & exhaust came from Benjies Cafe Racer. Other custom bits and pieces are from Power Barn. Godffery AKA Jeff Stephens Godffery's Garage 8010 Gateway Drive, Burlington WI. 53105 262 210-9269